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Seibu Lions closer Tomomi Takahashi said Friday that a sinker he’s playing around with might keep left-handed hitters more off balance this season. The 26-year-old lefty, who saved 29 games last season for the Pacific League club, threw his first bullpen of spring training ...

Orix Buffaloes outfielder Kenichi Marumo underwent emergency surgery after being struck in the head by a batted ball, the team announced Friday. Marumo was hit during practice Thursday but continued to train. He later complained of dizziness before being diagnosed with acute epidural hematoma ...

Needing just 15 hits to reach 2,000 for his career, 42-year-old Chunichi Dragons outfielder Kazuhiro Wada showed no sign of slowing down Monday on the second day of spring training. Wada, who is entering his 19th season, saw more than 200 pitches in an ...

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Nearly two months after the Yokohama BayStars revealed they had come to terms with slugging Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel, the Central League club finally announced his signing Monday. Gurriel, 30, joined Yokohama midway through the 2014 season and batted .305 with 11 home runs ...

Rookie Fukuoka Softbank Hawks skipper Kimiyasu Kudo reported that his first day of spring training on Sunday was a success since it ended without anyone getting hurt. “We got through it without anyone getting hurt,” said Kudo, who pitched until he was 47 and ...

Ichiro Suzuki’s introductory news conference with the Miami Marlins was held at a Tokyo hotel on Thursday, in a large room filled with media members — no fewer than 20 television crews, dozens more photographers and even more writers. There was an MC on ...

Spring training officially kicks off on Sunday for all 12 of Nippon Professional Baseball’s teams in Miyazaki and Okinawa prefectures. Miyazaki will get much of the early focus with both the Japan Series and Pacific League champion Fukuoka Softbank Hawks sharing the city with ...

Retired former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui will observe the Yomiuri Giants’ spring training camp in Miyazaki on Feb. 3-4, Giants team representative Atsushi Harasawa revealed on Friday. The news came a day after it was announced that Matsui will visit the Yokohama ...

Retired former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui is scheduled to observe the Yokohama BayStars’ spring training camp in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, from Feb. 5-7, the Central League club announced on Thursday. Matsui, 40, who had stints with the Los Angles Angels, the Oakland ...

When bespectacled catcher Atsuya Furuta was ready to set out on a professional baseball career, he was told by many that pro ballplayers don’t wear glasses. Those glasses ended up becoming Furuta’s trademark throughout an 18-year career with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Pretty soon, ...

Shortstop Takashi Toritani signed a five-year contract with the Hanshin Tigers on Thursday that could keep the team captain with the Central League club for the remainder of his career. Toritani, who had pondered a move to the majors this winter as a free ...

Japan was the first-ever champion of the World Baseball Classic, lifting the championship trophy on foreign soil in 2006. If Samurai Japan repeats the feat at the inaugural Premier 12, the Japanese will get to do all their celebrating at home. Japan has been ...